French PM insists on plans to raise pension age

France’s prime minister has insisted that the government’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is “no longer negotiable”.

As reported by El Pais, her remarks made on January 29 sparked further anger among parliamentary opponents and unions who plan new mass protests and disruptive strikes this week, following a string of protests already having taken place which saw more than 1 million people marched against it earlier this month.

The publication recalls, that raising the pension age is one part of a broad bill that is the flagship measure of President Emmanuel Macron’s second term. The bill is meeting widespread popular resistance and misunderstanding about what it will mean for today’s French workers.

In an interview with France-Info radio broadcast on January 29, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that retirement at 64 and a lengthening of the number of years needed to earn a full pension “is the compromise that we proposed after having heard employers’ organizations and unions”.

A union-led online petition against the retirement plan has already seen a surge in new signatures following Borne’s comments. France’s eight leading unions are in discussions about a joint response to her remarks, according to officials with the FO and CFDT unions.